Sometimes the Lord calls you to do hard things...it's true. And people, this may terrify some of you but when I moved to Slovakia I forgot to mention one frightening fact about my new life here. I am 4 hours from the closest Starbucks! I know, I know, please dry your eyes, put your checkbooks down, it will be ok. Not all of us are cut out to live a life so far from the powerful, delicious, addictive, pleasure of that little green circle.
But, this Friday a little miracle came my way. No it wasn't world peace, or a solution to global warming, or even some type of resolution to ANY of the ridiculous junk happening on Lost this season. The miracle was a simple white cup...filled with Latte Goodness. And it was all mine. Sigh.
Thanks to Kenric for supplying this miracle when Lee Ann and i went to Vienna to pick him up at the airport. Look how much joy you brought me! and Lee Ann.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Smells like Jesus
A million years ago when I was in college I took a Psych class called Sensation and Perception. It was basically a course about the 5 senses. We went into some deep detail about each of the senses and it amazed me how complex it all was, how little we actually understood them, and how important each of them is. By the end of that class I was able to diagram the neural processes involved in all 5 senses. It was incredible. I could map the intricate process of the visual system. I could trace the sensory pathways that are involved when you are touched pysically. It was so interesting and complicated and amazing to realize all the tiny things that happened to get an image from the television to the back of your eye to your brain.
I say all that really for one reason. The last sense we studied that semester was smell. Mainly because it was the least complicated physically and neurologically. But one thing we did learn is that although it's not a real complicated sense, it's the most powerfully tied to memory. Our sense of smell connects to our brains and our memories so strongly, and so intensely. Think about it for a second...ever walked through the mall and smelled the cologne/purfume of your 1st love? Ever walked into the house and smelled your favorite meal long before you knew what was on the menu? Ever been reduced to tears because you smelled something familar and the memories came flooding back to you? Our sense of smell is POWERFUL. A friend of mine here just got back from being in the states and is wearing a new purfume. It happens to be the same purfume that one of my very best friends from home wears...I think of her every time I smell it. Clean sheets, spring rain, Old Spice, whatever, spend a day sniffing stuff and see how strongly it connects to your memory.
Now, that i have set the stage a bit, here is a verse that God brought to me this week. I keep going back to it...chewing on it...and wishing I could imprint it on my brain.
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the FRAGRANCE of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the AROMA of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
Wow. Through us the fragrance of knowing God is dispersed. Another thing about scent is that a little goes a long way...a few molecules can really travel and be detected easily. As believers when we walk through life people can smell the God stuff on us. Maybe some of us have doused ourselves in it. Maybe some of us haven't put any on in a while and the smell of the world is more prevalent. But people should be able to smell it on us. We are the aroma of Christ. Incredible thought. In my life I want to put on so much of Christ that when I am around people smell it on me. That it fills up their nostrils. That I am indistinguishable from the smell. When people think of me they connect me with the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of the knowledge of God. How incredible to know that through our lives and our hearts and our daily wanderings God spreads the aroma of himself out all over the earth. So go ahead and hose yourself down with this "fragrance of life". There is no such thing as too much of it!
I say all that really for one reason. The last sense we studied that semester was smell. Mainly because it was the least complicated physically and neurologically. But one thing we did learn is that although it's not a real complicated sense, it's the most powerfully tied to memory. Our sense of smell connects to our brains and our memories so strongly, and so intensely. Think about it for a second...ever walked through the mall and smelled the cologne/purfume of your 1st love? Ever walked into the house and smelled your favorite meal long before you knew what was on the menu? Ever been reduced to tears because you smelled something familar and the memories came flooding back to you? Our sense of smell is POWERFUL. A friend of mine here just got back from being in the states and is wearing a new purfume. It happens to be the same purfume that one of my very best friends from home wears...I think of her every time I smell it. Clean sheets, spring rain, Old Spice, whatever, spend a day sniffing stuff and see how strongly it connects to your memory.
Now, that i have set the stage a bit, here is a verse that God brought to me this week. I keep going back to it...chewing on it...and wishing I could imprint it on my brain.
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the FRAGRANCE of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the AROMA of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
Wow. Through us the fragrance of knowing God is dispersed. Another thing about scent is that a little goes a long way...a few molecules can really travel and be detected easily. As believers when we walk through life people can smell the God stuff on us. Maybe some of us have doused ourselves in it. Maybe some of us haven't put any on in a while and the smell of the world is more prevalent. But people should be able to smell it on us. We are the aroma of Christ. Incredible thought. In my life I want to put on so much of Christ that when I am around people smell it on me. That it fills up their nostrils. That I am indistinguishable from the smell. When people think of me they connect me with the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of the knowledge of God. How incredible to know that through our lives and our hearts and our daily wanderings God spreads the aroma of himself out all over the earth. So go ahead and hose yourself down with this "fragrance of life". There is no such thing as too much of it!
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